PSC now defends new policies

By FAITH RONOH

Public Service Commission (PSC) now says the restructuring announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta is aimed at improving efficiency and reducing wastage.

PSC chair Prof Margaret Kobia said under the Constitution, some roles of government had been made difficult to implement and the Cabinet Secretaries needed officials on the ground to coordinate government activities.

“The reduction of ministries, lack of assistants for Cabinet secretaries and poor coordination in government prompted Uhuru to delegate powers to county commissioners,” she explained.

She added the County Commissioners would only be responsible for 35 government functions that have not been devolved under the Constitution. However, they will not be responsible for 14 decentralised functions.

She defended the re-introduction of the provincial system of administration saying the government is only implementing the provisions of the National Government Coordination Act of 2013.

The President on Thursday, launched policies on Decentralisation of Human Resource Management in the Civil Service and a Framework for Strengthening the Delivery of National Government Functions at the County Level. Uhuru further entrusted County Commissioners with powers to oversee all national functions at county level.

It has been criticised as a means to kill devolution and sneak the loathed provincial administration through the back door.

Kobia, while reacting to the recent announcement, said the Act tasks national government with ensuring reasonable access to its services in all parts of the Republic.

“The president has basically delegated his powers as provided for under Article 132(3) (b) of the Constitution to county commissioners. The National Government Coordination Act, 2013 allows the President to use his own office, the cabinet office or co-ordination of committees to coordinate national functions, ” Kobia said in an interview with The Standard on Saturday.

Decentralisation of human resource, she said, was the only way to improving service delivery adding that one year down the line, Kenyans have not felt the impact of devolution.

Among other top issues that prompted government to restructure, according to Kobia, was the need to hold civil servants responsible for their actions: “it is not right for Kenyans to visit government offices and fail to receive assistance simply because officers are absent or offices are closed. These are some of the issues that we want eliminated and the only way was to have direct government executives at county level.”

Kobia (pictured) pointed out that it was challenging for governors to hold national government officers accountable or even discipline them saying they only concentrate with their decentralised functions.

Governors have since received the changes with a lot of pessimism saying giving commissioners extra powers was a plot by government to frustrate devolution.

Critiques have also differed with government over the changes especially on possibilities that the restructuring process would further strain the already unmanageable wage bill.